XF 1.1 Import Process Questions

Hello! So, I've recently become the proud owner of a Xenforo license and am really looking forward to diving deeper into the software.

Now, I'm currently planning on transferring a community from jcink (IPB 1.3 software) to Xenforo. I understand that there is no importer straight from IPB 1.3 -> Xenforo. So, I'd have to go IPB 1.3 -> PHPBB -> Xenforo, correct?

And now that that's out of the way, I just wanted some recommendations on the best way to actually handle the board setup and import process until I'm ready to open up the new board to my community.

I've been installing my add-ons on what I've considered to be my live forum and have been testing with data that does not exist on my jcink forum (new usernames, new usergroup names, etc.). Before I do any importing, I do plan on taking a backup of my forum's database just so I can test the import first.

Is it okay if I import the old database into one that has a small amount of custom test content? Or should I delete that test content first?

Also, has anybody had any experience with importing from a site that has many accounts with duplicate emails? We won't have the option of merging these accounts, since they're meant to stay separate (It's a roleplaying forum, so everyone has a separate account for each character they play).

You will not be able to have more than one account with the same email address.
This is because login is possible via user name and email address.
They will have to be changed if you don't want to merge them.